After Cyro's retreat into my bedroom was over, Father took his spot not long after.
He sat down and rather than using the dial, he activated his mana, and a spheric barrier thicker than the one produced by the magic device surrounded me and him.
"The Asanos are still nearby. Wouldn't want them to overhear us speaking," he explained.
He looked like there were a lot of things in his mind and he didn't know where to begin.
I didn't rush him. I simply waited and after letting out a deep sigh, he began speaking.
"Sorry I didn't discuss this with you first," he said.
'Huh?'
I didn't expect an apology to be the first to come out of his mouth.
"Uhm... it's... alright?"
"I know you're wondering why I accepted the Asano clan's offer to engage you with their eldest daughter."
I nodded my head.
"If you're wondering if it has to do with my personal relationship with the head of the clan then no. It's nothing like that." He placed his hand on my shoulder as if to brace me. "You would be correct to think of this decision as nothing more than a political one."
My jaw dropped ever so slightly.
Making family decisions because of politics wasn't something in my father's blood. It wasn't something he'd ever done before so this was completely left field.
"But I assure you, it's for a good reason."
"May I ask what that reason is?"
He looked over at my window and I mimicked him. We were looking out at the sunset that looked like cotton candy.
He responded with worry in his voice, "It's because of the demon king."
"The demon king?"
"Yes. His announcement of his return a few weeks ago was the domino that set off the chain leading to your engagement. We... we are going to war, Bell. I hope you understand that," he told me.
"I do... but what does that have to do with my relationship status?" I asked.
Perhaps my tone came off as slightly humorous because Father had a little smile on his face.
"It's to protect you, your mother, and the rest of the family. By having the two families unify together as one, the demon king will have to think twice before attacking us," he explained his thought process. "I don't want to use you as a tool for war but I hope you understand how scary the incoming danger is."
"I... I do. So, let me get straight. You're basically telling me that I'm engaged to a stranger I've never met in order to strengthen the two families?"
"Correct. I hope you understand why I did this. I know it was inconsiderate of me to make this decision without your knowledge but I didn't want your mother to find out so I kept the conversations with the Asano family very private. I can already sense the lecture she's going to give me after this."
Laughing, I sighed and said, "It's fine. I understand."
His smile grew with my understanding and he gave me a tight hug.
"That's enough Father. I can't breathe."
"Hahaha. Sorry about that," he said before freeing me from his middle-age grasp.
"Initially, I was planning on having your older brother be the one to get engaged. Many other families had given me a similar offer of uniting our families together in preparation for the war but ultimately, I went with the Asano clan because they emphasized the importance of family. I thought they'd be the people least likely to covet our family's power while also being willing to put the most effort into having our backs. We'll do the same for them as well, obviously."
I thought about it for a second before going, "Ah. That's why you went with me."
"Yep. If there was an older daughter then it'd be fine but their eldest daughter is underage, around your age, and I wouldn't want your older brother to get arrested and exiled from society as a predator so... I shifted over to you."
I couldn't help but let out a decent laugh at the thought of a highly respected and famous paladin being punished for a crime so unholy.
"I know you're being understanding of the situation I've put you in because you love the family too much to complain," said Father. "Thank you."
"No problem."
"Don't worry too much about this engagement. Once the war is over, you can just break the engagement off and the two of you can go your separate ways. I wouldn't actually want you to marry someone you don't love," he told me.
'Once the war is over?'
I couldn't help but chuckle inside my head.
He made it sound like the war would be over in a few years like the previous ones.
This World War was different though; it came to be known as the Twenty-Year Abyss War for a reason.
By the time this war is over, I'd be in my 30s by then.
Unless the Asano family is willing to wait until the war is over to have the marriage ceremony then what Father said was definitely not the case.
But I appreciated the sentiment and I told him, "Thank you."
Once he left the room after deactivating the mana bubble, I sat down at my computer and began doing research on the person with who I was engaged.
The information I got was very barebone and other than the occasional social media posts shared by her friends, not much was known about her.
For someone so famous, she was rather discreet.
I thought to myself, 'She must have people monitoring the internet for anything involving her. Or perhaps her father is the one doing it.'
They're purposely keeping the information about her as minimal as possible.
Because her family is so powerful and has enemies just as powerful, this wasn't a bad thing to do in order to protect her.
I wanted to know more about my fiancée but I guess I'll just have to wait and see her for myself.
As I spun around in my chair, I finally realized where in the butterfly effect did I cause this engagement to happen.
Because I had cleared my name and had gaslighted everyone into believing that I was a poor innocent boy who was controlled by his demon curse mark, the Asano was willing to leave their daughter in my hands.
In the original story, the Asano must've refused to offer the Agnus unification between the two families because they didn't want to be connected to a criminal. At least a public one.
I don't know if the Asano are bad people and they might want a righteous son-in-law — but in the status world where Agnus and Asano are, crimes are a common occurrence conducted by both families, so I doubted my moral alignment was a factor; ultimately, Bell's public image as a sexual offender must've been the deciding point behind the offer.
'What is this called? Suffering from success?'
An hour later and the Asanos finally left our home.
Dinner was awkward because I could tell that Mother had just scolded Father even though I didn't hear it.
Cyro looked like he was sitting on a seat of nails and Rubi was unaware of what was going around her, laughing, and acting like she usually would.
Tonight was the first night we didn't have family time after dinner, probably because Mother dragged Father into their bedroom so that she could lecture him some more.
Wishing my father good luck in the explanation battle, I headed to bed.
I tried to sleep that night but for whatever reason, I just couldn't.
Firstly, my engagement was on my mind.
I wanted to conclude the plot of this story as quickly as I can because I want to return to Earth but I doubted whether I could even shrink the original timeline by a year.
'If that's even the condition for me returning home,' I thought to myself, shaking my head.
The shitty god never told me how far into his story did I have to live through.
All he did was give me a task to redeem Bell and that was about it.
Speaking of the shitty god, the second reason why I couldn't sleep was because of what he had said earlier.
Him not being in control of this universe and every change was a direct result of whatever I did.
That placed a certain fear in me that applied more weight to every action I made.
I'm a little scared that I'll make a decision that ruins everything and there'll be no one to blame other than myself.
The longer I was having an internal conversation with myself, the more tired I got.
Just as I was about to fall asleep, my phone rang.
"For fuck sake," I groaned.
Reaching underneath my pillow, I pulled the phone out and braced myself.
Blinded by the light on my phone screen, I looked at who was calling me and it was an unknown number.
"Is this a scam call?" I sighed. "It's so late."
Sitting up, just in case it wasn't a scam call, I did pick up the call.
"Hello. Who's this?" I asked.
No one was responding. "Hello?" I repeated myself.
'Is this actually a scam call? Why is this day so weird?'
I was about to hang up the phone when the person who called me finally spoke. "Hey," said someone whose voice I could partially recognize.
I thought about it for a while before a name popped up in my head.
"Is this... Diana?" I asked, not sure whether or not I was correct about my guess.
"Yes. It's Diana," she responded.
'What's she doing calling me so late? Is something wrong?'
"Uhm... okay? What's... up, Diana?" I asked her while rubbing my eyes. I was trying my hardest to knock the tiredness out of me so that I could respond to the situation appropriately.
For the next minute or so, I listened to Diana struggling to speak her mind.
A little annoyed but also concerned about the severity of the situation that is making her stutter and whatnot, I called her name to get her to stop, "Diana. I don't know what's wrong but for you to call me... it must be bad. If you can't tell me over the phone, then just give me your location. I'll come to you and we can talk it over in person."
It was late but she's an important character and I needed to help her not only to protect the storylines she was involved in but also in order to continue elevating my status as the "main character".
"Thank you," she told me, not even understanding what I had just thought to myself.
'You wouldn't be thanking me if you knew the truth.'
"You're welcome. I'll be there in twenty minutes."